Audio Samples

Review

It is hard for me to actually consider writing a review of the
soundtrack to the David Duchovny and Minnie Driver starrer Return To
Me after a Sunday episode of X-Files. Knowing Duchovny's record for
film successes (Kalifornia and Playing God ) versus his
T.V. roles (X-Files and multiple appearances on
The Larry Sanders Show), I'd automatically approach the
film with some level of trepidation. Those starring Minnie Driver
have fared significantly better, with such films as Circle Of
Friends and Grosse Point Blank. The composer, Nicholas
Pike, has progressed beyond his low budget movie and television
status to getting an A-list picture to helm while competing with the
1950s source music. It's a challenging task for any composer, and
Pike handles himself quite readily and ingenuously with the score
cues presented on this album.

The majority of the album has a heavy dash of Dean Martin and
Jackie Gleason vocals with contemporary reworking of the title tune
("Return To Me") and several period classics performed by Joey Gian.
I believe that the approach of using old standards in films
stereotypes the approach viewers will take when coming to view this
typical romantic comedy. It's sets the tone of nostalgia a bit to far
on the "way back machine" that will hinder a contemporary story or
might help one that's trying to fit in a more formulaic mode. Besides
taking a new approach on creating a tie and bond between the two
leads, here done as a heart transplant story, it's nothing that
When Harry Met Sally or a Sleepless In Seattle hasn't
tried years previously. Last year's Playing By Heart was a
much more intelligent film, both in it's story but also in the depth
of character development, which made the score, masterfully done by
John Barry, and the source music, a compilation of standards and some
modern cues, much more relevant to the film.

I would have hoped, that with as many songs they have on the
album, RCA could have also flipped for a little bit more than 10
minutes of score. As mentioned earlier, this is one of Mr. Pike's
first big films, and a reasonably good effort, with a nice
nondescript melody that ends much too soon for the average listener
to get into the flow of the themes. Actor/Director Bonnie Hunt
comments that the songs selected for the album remind her of the
better times in her childhood, but it would be better if the music,
at least as it appears here, played more of a relevant and supporting
role. Unfortunately just another case of marketing directing the
content of a soundtrack release, even if the entire thing chimes in
just under forty minutes. With past RCA releases, it seems odd to
have bucked their trend of lengthy well treated albums and simply
slap together one to help market the film. If the previews have
anything to say for whether or not to pass on the film, the
soundtrack certainly helps steer my decision towards the latter.